Color Doppler flow imaging is used in medical diagnostic ultrasound imaging systems to measure the flow velocity of fluid or tissue under examination. Because of the larger number of ultrasound pulses that need to be transmitted and received to estimate and display flow velocity, the frame rate is much lower than that of B-mode imaging. Accordingly, to display flow velocity in real-time along with a B-mode image, flow velocity is displayed in a “color box” that is smaller than the whole field of view of the B-mode image. There is, therefore, a need to improve the frame rate of color flow imaging. U.S. Pat. No. 6,159,153 describes systems and methods for improving frame rates in B-mode imaging by using multiple firing directions and multiple frequencies. However, these methods and systems are only directed to B-mode imaging and not to color flow imaging.